New 'boom box' speakers linked to death at level crossing

A young man killed at a railway crossing may not have heard the train coming because of a sound system he fitted to his car less than an hour beforehand.

John Henare Tamati Twaddell, 18, a trainee Army chef, died when his stationwagon was hit by a freight train at a level crossing near Rolleston, last spring.

The crossing, which is controlled by a stop sign, has no alarms.

An inquest into Mr Twaddell's death yesterday heard how his friend Paul McConnell helped to fit "boom box" speakers to the car about 7.15pm on Friday, October 8, before Mr Twaddell went to pick up a friend from Christchurch Airport.

Senior Constable Andrew Williamson said: "His new stereo system was known to be set at high volume."

He said driver inattention was the most likely cause of the 8pm crash.

Constable Nigel Price, of the Christchurch police serious-crash unit, said Mr Twaddell, a learner driver and the sole occupant of the stationwagon, would have had a 10-second view of the approaching train as he drove up to the crossing along Wards Rd, but there were no signs of braking at the stop sign.

The inquest also heard from Ontrack, which is part of the Railways Corporation, that it planned to install lights and bell alarms at the crossing by the end of next year.

Mr Twaddell's mother, Rama Bassett, welcomed the move. "If there was a set of lights there, John would still be alive.

"I'm not blaming anybody, it's just a set of lights needs to be stuck there so no other mother goes through what I've gone through."

- NZPA